Akamai and RealNetworks Announce Expanded Alliance to Deliver Broadband Internet Broadcast Service Worldwide.Business & Technology Editors SEATTLE and CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 10, 2000 Akamai to Deploy RealSystem G2 Internet Media Solution Across Global Network, Building on Existing Relationship and Expanding Capacity to Deliver Internet Media Content RealNetworks(R), Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK RNWK Real Networks (stock symbol) ), and Akamai Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM AKAM Akamai Technologies, Inc. (stock abbreviation) AKAM Automated Key Access Machine ) today announced that they have entered into an expanded strategic alliance to enable global high performance delivery of Internet media. As a part of the alliance, Akamai will deploy and integrate RealSystem(R) G2 system-wide, vastly expanding Akamai's capability to deliver streaming media content using RealNetworks technology. Akamai's global high performance distributed network and FreeFlow(SM) Streaming service, along with RealSystem G2, will provide end users located virtually anywhere in the world with high quality streaming media experience, delivered from optimal locations at the edge of the Internet. "We are excited about driving media content to the edge of the network through our expanded relationship with Akamai. By integrating our award-winning RealSystem G2 with Akamai's massively distributed network, we will be able to truly deliver the highest quality broadband Internet media for mass audiences worldwide," said Tom Frank, COO, RealNetworks, Inc. "We are very pleased to expand significantly our relationship with RealNetworks and believe the combination of Akamai's highly innovative and optimized delivery services along with RealNetworks audience reach, partnership depth, and an outstanding standards-based media system will help to catalyze the future growth of the Internet media market," said Paul Sagan, President and COO, Akamai Technologies. Akamai's Network and Technology Akamai's global high performance distributed network consists of over 2,750 Web servers within more than 150 Internet backbones, ISPs cable head ends, DSL DSL in full Digital Subscriber Line Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary providers and satellite facilities in over 45 countries. The scalability of the Akamai network provides an unparalleled reach to support audiences worldwide, on hundreds of thousands of concurrent streams. Akamai's streaming service, FreeFlow Streaming, is built upon Akamai's EdgeAdvantage(TM) platform that utilizes proprietary algorithms to monitor the Internet on a real-time basis, and make intelligent decisions about the best and most efficient Akamai edge server from which to deliver content to the end user. FreeFlow Streaming incorporates Akamai's proprietary SteadyStream(SM) technology that splits encoded broadcast signals into multiple streams sent across the Akamai network, and then recombines them at the edge of the Internet to recreate the streams into their original high-quality format. Based upon demand and network conditions, SteadyStream also has the capability to determine in real-time whether to use satellite or terrestrial networks for the delivery of these streams. RealNetworks' Broadband-Ready RealSystem G2 RealSystem G2 is the only standards-based, OS-independent, fully scalable and highly extensible media delivery platform. RealNetworks has led and driven support for interoperable streaming media standards such as RTSP (RealTime Streaming Protocol) An application layer protocol used to transmit streaming audio, video and 3D animation over the Internet. It enables the user's client software to provide remote control of the server with functions such as pause, rewind and fast (Real Time Streaming Protocol (multimedia, networking, protocol) Real Time Streaming Protocol - (RTSP) An application layer protocol for controlling delivery of a stream of real-time multimedia content. RTSP allows users to start playing from a certain position. ), RTP (1) (Rapid Transport Protocol) The protocol used in IBM's High Performance Routing (HPR) system. (2) (Realtime Transport Protocol) An IP protocol that supports real time transmission of voice and video. (Real Time Protocol), SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) Pronounced "smile." A format for delivering and synchronizing multimedia content on the Web. Introduced in the summer of 1998 by the W3C, it is a document type (DTD) of XML and provides the timing commands that (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (hypertext, language, multimedia, text, World-Wide Web) Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language - (SMIL) A language based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), that enables people without programming or scripting backgrounds to author multimedia presentations in a simple text ) and fully supports industry standard formats and codecs, such as MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). . RealSystem G2 is the only streaming media system that supports extensible datatypes -- over 20 datatypes, including RealVideo G2, which delivers MPEG quality at half the datarate, text, Flash animation, still images, and MIDI Music have been deployed. Client-side and server-side plug-ins extend the capabilities of the System: over 170 developers have taken advantage of RealSystem G2 APIs to deliver hundreds of innovative software products and solutions. Through SureStream, RealSystem G2 uniquely supports dynamic client/server bandwidth adjustments to ensure continuity of end-user experience despite changes in bandwidth and congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. . RealServer 7.0 runs on the broadest set of major server platforms and processor architectures of any streaming media platform: Linux (RedHat, Mandrake mandrake, plant of the family Solanaceae (nightshade family), the source of a narcotic much used during the Middle Ages as a pain-killer and perhaps the subject of more superstition than any other plant. and Debian), Solaris 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, SGI (SGI, Sunnyvale, CA, www.sgi.com) A manufacturer of workstations and servers, founded in 1982 by Jim Clark. The company was founded as Silicon Graphics, Inc., but changed to its acronym in 1999. Irix 6.2, SGI Irix 6.5, Windows 2000, Windows NT, FreeBSD 3.0, and SCO UnixWare 7. RealSystem G2 is the only streaming media solution to be supported by every major content delivery network for the delivery of narrowband to broadband content. Over 85% of the streaming media content on web pages is in RealNetworks formats -- fueled by powerful hosting, subscription, pay-per-view and robust advertising business models and the demands of over 115 million unique registered RealPlayer(R) users worldwide. (Source: AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. Search) About RealNetworks RealNetworks, Inc. (Nasdaq "RNWK"), based in Seattle, is the recognized leader in media delivery for the Internet. It develops and markets software products and services designed to enable users of personal computers and other consumer electronic devices to send and receive audio, video and other multimedia services using the web. RealNetworks can be found on the World Wide Web at www.real.com About Akamai Akamai Technologies has headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and offices in San Mateo and Cupertino, California, and Europe. Akamai is a leader in distributed content, streaming media, and applications delivery, serving nearly 400 customers, including over 550 popular Web properties. Akamai has deployed the broadest global network for content, streaming media, and applications delivery with more than 2,750 servers, in over 45 countries directly connected to more than 150 different telecommunications networks and over 300 universities. Akamai (pronounced AH kuh my) is Hawaiian for intelligent, clever and cool. The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, the dependence on Akamai's Internet content delivery service, a failure of its network infrastructure, the complexity of its service and the networks on which the service is deployed, the failure to obtain access to transmission capacity and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. and other documents periodically filed with the SEC. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion